A 46-year-old La Crosse man is facing five felony counts of possession of child pornography after investigators say they found more than 30 illegal images on his phone, the culmination of a cyber investigation that began nearly a year ago. Karl Johnson appeared in court for a bond hearing on Wednesday, where a judge set his cash bond at $2,500.
According to WXOW, the investigation began in November 2025 after officers received information that an IP address in La Crosse was sharing roughly 550 files containing images of children. Further investigation identified Johnson as a suspect, and police searched his home, where they found multiple phones and computers. One of those phones reportedly contained multiple images of child pornography, leading to the five felony charges now filed against him.
Johnson was arrested on Tuesday, according to the same report. He has a next court appearance scheduled for October 2.
How Local Cyber Tips Trigger Investigations
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children's CyberTipline received 20.5 million reports containing nearly 63 million files of suspected material nationwide in 2024, according to Thorn.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice received 230 cyber tips in 2024, while it reported 176 sextortion tips in 2023. The Wisconsin ICAC Task Force investigates computer-facilitated child sexual exploitation.
La Crosse's Local Task Force Infrastructure
La Crosse's Local Task Force Infrastructure On the ground, the La Crosse Police Department has an Investigative Services Bureau. Locally, cyber investigations are carried out in partnership with the Coulee Region ICAC Task Force, a multi-agency coalition that includes the La Crosse Police Department, the La Crosse County Sheriff's Department, and surrounding municipal departments, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Wisconsin.
That regional collaboration has produced federal cases before. In December 2022, a 32-year-old La Crosse man was sentenced to six years in federal prison followed by 20 years of supervised release after a similar digital investigation into receiving child pornography, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Wisconsin announced at the time.
What Johnson Could Face If Convicted
Under Wisconsin Statute § 948.12, possession of child pornography is a Class D felony punishable by up to 25 years in prison — up to 15 years of initial confinement plus 10 years of extended supervision — and fines up to $100,000, according to the Van Severen Law Office. The law carries a mandatory minimum of three years in prison per count, meaning Wisconsin requires prison time rather than probation for adult convictions.
A conviction would also trigger mandatory lifetime or multi-decade registration on the state's sex offender registry under Wisconsin Statute § 301.45, according to the Tracey Wood Law Office, which notes that registration brings long-term residential and employment restrictions.
Hoodline reported on a Bangor teacher's arrest, in which a 28-year-old choir teacher was charged with three counts of possessing child pornography after a search warrant led to the recovery of videos and photographs.
It remains unclear whether federal prosecutors in the Western District of Wisconsin will take up Johnson's case given the reported scale of the 550 shared files, or whether the discovery of additional computers and phones at his home could lead to further charges. Johnson is next scheduled to appear in court on October 2.
